From Monopoly to Cluedo, board games are a long-standing tradition bringing friends and families together across the UK. But which cities are the true board game capitals of the nation, and which games are the most popular?

Just in time for Christmas, new research from the entertainment company VSO reveals the UK cities home to the biggest game lovers, as well as the most popular board games according to search volume.

Belfast is the most board game-obsessed city in the UK, with a monthly average of 225 searches for games per 10k people

Topping the list is Belfast, where searches for popular games average 225 per 10k people each month. The most popular game of all in Belfast is Chess, which sees an average of 5,400 searches per month.

The second most board game-obsessed city is Manchester. Games receive a monthly average of 207 searches per 10k people in this northern city, with chess once again topping the leaderboard. This is followed by Leeds, Glasgow and Birmingham.

Rank	City	Total monthly searches per 10,000 people
1	Belfast	225
2	Manchester	207
3	Leeds	158
4	Glasgow	139
5	Birmingham	129
6	Edinburgh	125
7	London	122
8	Wolverhampton	119
9	Milton Keynes	111
10	Bristol	110

Chess is the most popular board game in the UK, with 550k searches every month

When it comes to Brits’ favourite board game, Chess takes the crown. The classic strategy game, which dates back as far as the 15th century, receives an average of 550k searches per month — which is over 480k more than the second-most popular game, Cards Against Humanity.

Despite not being around as long as many other games on the list, Cards Against Humanity (which came out in 2011) earned second place, with 60.5k searches each month on average. The fill-in-the-blanks party game is particularly popular in London, where residents search for it an average of 8,100 times per month.

Rank	Board Game	Avg. monthly  searches in the UK
1	Chess	550,000
2	Cards Against Humanity	60,500
3	Charades	18,100
4	Monopoly	6,600
	Mouse Trap	6,600
	Risk	6,600
5	5 Second Rule	5,400
6	Cluedo	4,400
7	Snakes and Ladders	3,600
	Game of Life	3,600
8	Battleship, Guess Who & Perfection	1,900
	Guess Who	1,900
	Perfection	1,900
9	Articulate	1,600
	Ghost Castle	1,600
10	Draughts	1,000
	Checkers	1,000
	Diplomacy	1,000

In third place is Charades, with 18.1k searches per month on average, followed by Monopoly, Mouse Trap and Risk with 6,600 searches.

Which board games will you be digging out this Christmas?